Article of furniture having a draw-leaf platform



Nov. 1, 1966 M. MARCUS 3,282,634

ARTICLE OF FURNITURE HAVING A DRAW-LEAF PLATFORM Filed April 14, 1965 United States Patent 3,282,634 ARTICLE OF FURNITURE HAVING A DRAW-LEAF PLATFORM Maurice Marcus, 87-95 Hertford Road, London, England Filed Apr. 14, 1965, Ser. No. 448,113 1 Claim. (Cl. 312199) This invention relates to a combined desk and cabinet, and has for its object the provision of an article wherein side wings which are carried by a carcase section of a cabinet and which, when in closed positions, constitute front portions of the closed cabinet, can be swung outwardly to give access -to a desk platform incorporated with said carcase section, said side wings, as well as the carcase section, serving as holders for stationery, books and other articles applicable to oflice use. Thus the article has a large storage capacity for sundries likely to be required when the desk is in use, these sundries being so presented as to be readily available for use when the article is open, whereas the entire contents of the article are housed and concealed when the article is brought to closed-cabinet form.

A further object is to provide a draw-out desk platform of the main carcase with extension flaps which, when in use, project beyond the sides of said main carcase so as to extend in front of the side wings, and to form said main carcase in a manner to accommodate said flaps, after being lowered, when the said desk platform is slid back into said main carcase.

According to the invention, there is provided a combined desk and cabinet comprising a carcase section in the form of an open-fronted rectangular housing incorporating compartments for holding office sundries, and also housing a desk platform which can be brought to a position for use in which it extends horizontally from the front of said carcase section, said carcase section hingedly carrying, at its vertical front edges side wings arranged to assume closed positions in which they are disposed side-by-side in front of the carcase section so that vertical walls of said wings conjointly form the front of a cabinet, and top and side cheeks of said wings form flush frontal extensions of top and side cheeks respectively of the carcase section, said side wings incorporating compartments having their entrances on the inside of said wings, said compartments, therefore, being made accessible by swinging the side wings outwardly to expose the insides thereof, this outward movement of the wings giving access to the desk platform to enable it to be brought to its projecting position for use.

The desk platform of the carcase section is a drawleaf platform comprising a main section and an extension flap at each end of said main section, said flap being hingedly carried by said main section to enable it to swing down from a position of use in which its upper surface is co-planar with the upper surface of the main section to an out-of-use position, means being provided for supporting said extension flap in the said position of use, the carcase section of the article including a compartment dimensioned to require the platform flaps to be brought to the said out-o-f-use position before the main section can he slid back bodily with the said flaps into said compartment. Thus each flap, when in the position of use, projects beyond the adjacent boundary of the compartment, and if desired this feature may be utilised to provide a stop action to prevent the platform being unintentionally slid back int-o the compartment.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described and is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation showing wing portions of the cabinet in open positions and showing the flaps of the draw-leaf platform in their positions of use.

I 3,282,634 Patented Nov. 1, 1966 FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary front view showing one of the platform flaps in lowered position for the stowing of same into the principal section of the cabinet, and

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of FIGURE 1.

The cabinet shown comprises an open-fronted carcase section 1 to the sides of which are hingedly attached, at the front of said section, wing sections 2. The carcase section 1 has supporting feet 1a. The hinges which carry the wing sections 2 are denoted by reference 3. The wing sections 2 are formed so as to be open-fronted in their opened-out positions shown in FIGURES 1 and 3; the carcase section 1 and wing sections 2 are divided into compartments arranged in any convenient way.

Intermediately in its height, the carcase section 1 has a compartment 4 fitted with a draw-leaf platform including a main section 5 having runners 6 on the underside which travel on fixed inner walls 7, the said main section 5 being located in any convenient manner (not shown) for the travelling of said runner 6 on the inner wall 7. Said draw-leaf platform includes also extension flaps 8 hingedly attached to the sides of the main section 5 so that they can be brought to lowered out-of-use positions (FIGURE 2). The runners 6 and inner walls 7 are spaced from the adjacent vertical walls 9 of the carcase section 1 of the cabinet to provide spaces 4a for accommodating the lowered flaps 8 and supporting stays 10 therefor, thereby enabling these parts to be stowed, together with the main platform section 5 into the carcase section 1 of the cabinet. The stays 10 are jointed and may be of the known type having an over-centre spring action for being maintained in both open and closed positions.

When the draw-leaf platform has been drawn out from the car-case section 1 to the available extent determined by stop means of any convenient for-m (not shown), the extension flaps 8 are just clear of the walls 9 of the carcase section 1 and can be raised to horizontal positions for use in which they are co-planar with the main platform section 5 to provide a longer platform surface. The stays 10 serve to maintain the flaps 8 in this raised position. The walls 9 of carcase section 1 being close behind the raised flaps 8 serve as abutments to prevent the platform being pushed back unintentionally. By swinging down the flaps 8, the platform can be slid back into carcase section 1, the flaps 8 and stays 10 being accommodated in spaces 4a as aforesaid.

The arcuate broken lines in FIGURE 3 show how the cabinet wing sections 2 can be swung to positions in front of section 1 after sliding back the platform into section 1 as aforesaid, thereby to bring the cabinet to a closed position. As shown in FIGURE 3, the front-to-baek dimension of platform section 5 may be greater than that of the cabinet section 1, provided that end walls 11 of the wing sections of the cabinet are interrupted at the height of the platform to allow the wing sections 2 to be closed.

By arranging that the wing sections 2 to not have any division pieces at the same height as the draw-leaf platform of carcase section 1, the wing sections may be swung forward to positions at an obtuse angle to said carcase section while the draw-leaf platform remains in the raised position, for instance, to the positions shown by broken lines 12 in FIGURE 3.

The platform section 5 may bodily carry beneath it a drawer shown by broken lines in FIGURES 1 and 2. A draw-out tray 13 may be mounted between the supports 7.

It will be appreciated that the invention prov-ides an article which has the form of a closed cabinet when not in use, the wings 2 being disposed in front of the carcase section 1 to form a compact article. However, when the side wings 2 have been swung out to bring the interior of the cabinet into use, there is presented to the user a large containing capacity for stationery, books, files, typewriter and other ofiice sundries. Furthermore, the draw-out desk platform is extendable by means of the flaps 8 to afford a desk surface which is substantially longer than the width dimension of the carcase section 1, the flaps 8 extending in front of the wings 2.

I claim:

A combined desk and cabinet comprising an open-front carcase section having a back, side walls, a top and a bottom, said carcase section having compartments including a desk-housing compartment which extends from one to the other of said side walls, said desk-housing compartment having a floor, compartmental side Wings attached to the side Walls of said carcase section by hinges situated at the front of said side walls, inner walls standing up from the floor of said desk-housing compartment of the carcase section, said inner walls being spaced from the respective adjacent side walls of said carcase section, a desk platform mounted in said desk-housing compartment, said desk platform comprising a main platform section and drop-down extension flaps carried by said main platform section at the respective ends thereof, runners unitary with and situated beneath said main platform section, said runners being slidable on said inner walls of the desk-housing compartment to allow the desk platform to be drawn out at the front of said carcase section, and foldable support stays arranged to support said drop-down flaps from said runners, said drop-down flaps extending in front of the said side Wings when said flaps are raised after drawing out said desk platform, said flaps, when lowered, being accommodated in the spaces between the said inner Walls of the desk-housing compartment and the respective adjacent side walls of said carcase section when said desk platform is slid back into said deslehousing compartment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 247,979 10/ 1 881 Wooton 312199 251,337 12/1881 Burrows 312200 275,616 4/ 1883 Elward 3 l2200 2,527,056 10/1950 Cain 312--'l99 2,719,066 9/1955 Budzinski 10863 2,872,260 7 2/1959 Walter 10 881 CLAUDE ROY, Primary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner. 

